‘Succession' Season 4, Episode 5 Recap: Bleed the Swede

Is this a real man or - as Logan would say - a play? Matsson calls the Waystar executives on the return flight. He wants it all, ATN and all, but he's willing to pay $192 per share. Everyone is happy (except the senior employees, who learn that they're on GoJo’s ‘kill list’). Kendall and Roman had planned to be so stubborn that Matsson would pay them more money to silence them.

Or -- here's a twist -- did it belong to Shiv? Shiv is eager to leave ATN when she learns that it works closely with an extreme right-wing presidential candidate. She then cozies up with Matsson following his disastrous Round 2 meeting with her brothers. He thinks she is a good listener and shares a strange story about sending multiple packages of blood to a female worker. Did they discuss anything else off-screen? Matsson then calls Shiv to ask her to send a photo of the sour looks on her brothers' faces. They failed to convince him to blow the deal.

Shiv may have given him some tips on how to nudge them. He likes her after all.

Due diligence

The TiVo description for this episode is: "Logan is hesitant about the purpose of a team-building retreat with the key employees of the company." This is absurd. I've heard about hiding spoilers, but this is ridiculous.

Greg, in an attempt to gain entry into the inner circle with the Roy siblings, comes up with a name for his group: the Quad Squad.

Tom, who is trying to make friends with the GoJo crew asks him about the future France. Instead of trying to sound intelligent he plays the role of a cocky American journalist who doesn't care about Europe. ('We'll rebuild Paris if it burns.

Shiv and Tom are back together? Both seem to be aroused by the bickering they had at the retreat. She kicked gravel on his shoes for being'so whitish', and he responded by flicking her earlobe and calling it 'thick, chewy and like barnacles'. Tom's name does not appear on the list of those who will be killed.

The Waystar people mention problems throughout this episode with their high-budget film about a robot that is sleeping. You might think they're talking metaphorically but when we finally see a clip of the movie, we hear an imposing metallic voice screaming, "You woke me from hibernation!"

When does Kendall realise Matsson, as he tells Roman, is a 'card trick'? It could be when the Swede casually admits that he discovered his father's body to try and compete with their sad tale about a father who has died? (Matsson: "No sorries, Lukas?")

Kendall is curious. She can dance, if the ending of this episode is anything to go by.